Trolley-contact.



L. A. HAWKINS.

TROLLEY CONTACT. APPLICATION FILED DEC. a1, 1907/ mmlllll II- "I I JUHIIIIIII Illl w mmnmnmiirliummmn PATENTED JULY 28, 1908.

INVENTEIH- LALJ RE N BE: A-HAWKI N5.

Maw;

UNITED STATES PATENTTOFFICE.

LAURENCE A. HAWKINS, OF SOHENEOTADK NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR. '1-0 GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW- YORK.

TnoLLnY-coNTAc'r.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July-28, 1908.

Application filedDecember 31, 1907; Serial No. 408,764?

To all whom it may concern:

Be it' known that I, LAURENCE A.- Haw: KINs, a citizen of theUnited States, residing and State of New York, have invented certain new anduseful lmprovements in Trolicy-Contacts, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My ltlVGIltlOIl relates to trolley contacts for use in-connection with s1gnal systems onelectric roads, and its object isto provide a simple .andreliable contact adapted for. operation at high: speeds. Such a contact must be so arranged that, no shock occurs when thetrolley strikes it, for otherwise, either the conta'ctfwould frequently break, or ,the trolley-wheel would be thrown from .the wire. Contact should be preserved for a suflicient length of time for operation of the signal mechanism connected to the contact,

and this should be accomplished without moving parts .in the trolley contact itself. Consequently, the contact should be of considerable length, and .should be of a simple and light construction, den the trolley-wire. The contact should preferably be arranged, so that it may be placed in position without cutting the trolle wire, and parts subject to wear should e easily replaceable. v I My iIlVGIltlOtL COIIlPIlSBS a novel form of trolley contact in which all the above requirements are met. Broadly stated, my invention consists of a trolleyconta'ct comprising.

- a long,

, passing.

structural ducting material sup orted in a horizontal plane directly above ut separated from the .trolley wire, and adapted to be engaged by the rims of the flanges of a trolley-wheel My invention "further com rises certain features which will estlbe understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a side elevationofa trolley contact arranged in accordance with my in-' ,ventiohpFig; 2 shows an enlarged cross-see tional' side elevation of the same; Fi 3 shows an end-elevation on'gthfe, scale of ig. 2;. and Fig. 4 shows a cross-sectional transverse view on a larger scale.

'In the drawings, A represents the trolleywire, and B B insulating ears or hangers of standard. construction. y i a C C represents a pair of supporting memflat, flexible, continuous strip of con- .l. at Schenectady,- in the county of Schenectady sees not to. overbure 2, the strip G is given a gradually upward in-' hand end of the strip to flap w I wheel passes 'overit rapidly from left to 95 its flanges engage the contact strip here in the form of light angle-beams extendcline, and is fastened at its end to the block D by means of clamping blocks H H, shown in Fig. 3. use in a place suchthatit would be traversed. by trolley-wheels at high speed both directions, both ends of the contact could bear ranged as the lefthand end is shown in 2; but ifthecontact-istraversed o'nedirecso I tion only at high s eed, the endat whichthe wheel leaves may e,;- and preferably. is, left free to move hor1zontally,.-as shown'at the Fig. 2, since. with the strip horizontal movement at one a;

right-handend of secured against end only,-

11 tendency to buckle is avoided Although the outgoing end of the strip G- is not fastened, it is preferably given an 1111,.

ward incline, as shown at theright-hand end of Fig-72, so that a trolley-wheel ma pass an over lt'from'riglht to left, without any anger,

of damaging t e contact strip, and-also so that there will be no tendenc for the ri hten the trol ey-5 right.- A bindin 0st I may be secured. to.

the block D, to w 1ch.the stilp'G isfastened,

so asto conduct the currentirom the. stri G Y to the signal mechanism. For very 'h' h light springsK K may e 100 speed 0 eration, used-to old the strip closelyin engagement with a passing trolley-wheel.

The operation of the, contact will beiciear from the above description. The trolle f contact from the le't-. 105.

wheel approaches the hand end, as viewed in Fig. 2, and the rims of at a point between the point of attachment of'the strip to'the spacing blockD and the pointxwhere the strip blocks D, and are fastened together (it) thinflexible strip of con- 66. such as hard rolledcopper T .or phosphor-bronze,

of the ich the. trolley wheel ap roaches,

If the contact were intendedfor v first touches the angle -'beams. 'C 1 10] 

